Jackson's Pumpkin Farm with Grandma and Grandpa

Jackson's is always a fall favorite with our kids.  Unfortunately, Dave had to work today and was unable to make it.  I'm sure that we'll return another time with him.  They have a bunch of different animals that you can feed, they have loud roosters that crow all the time, and ducks, rabbits, pigs, goats, a baby calf, and chickens.  The kids love to walk around and see the animals, but must be reminded not to stick their fingers in the pens.  There are also tons of displays that the kids can climb on, like the motorcycles.   Next year, Caleb can ride by himself, but this year he went with Potter and Molly went solo.  

Bobbi sends pashminas from Kashmir

Wendy's sister Bobbi, who is stationed in Iraq, sent us authentic pashminas from Kashmir.  They are matching pashminas, so now you can no longer tell the difference between us when we were them.  Wendy is on the left, I am on the right, just to help you keep us straight!

Chillin' with grandpa

Those of you who know Caleb know that he loves to drink his milk and hold onto someone's ear.  Grandpa has just about the biggest ears of anyone, so Caleb is always drawn to him come sippy time!!  But there was a lot of love too.  He just snuggled up to his chest and laid down comfortably.  It was happy times on both sides!!  

More hiking.....

Our hike in the nature preserve

We went on a hike Saturday in the nature preserve.  On the drive to the parking area, we passed by a group of three deer, only one of whom stayed around for me to take a picture of him.  The trees are brilliant, beautiful with reflections on the lake.  We took a group photo by the lake before we headed over the bridge.   There is also a picture of me, sort of a rare thing as I am usually the chick with the camera in her hand.  

In the basement

Molly takes Caleb on a spin, the kids flock around Grandpa to show him Caleb's new marble maze toy.

Grandma and Grandpa arrive!

Grandma and Grandpa arrived last Wednesday for a week long visit.  We haven't seen them since last Christmas, so everyone was very excited for them to get to our house.   As you can see, there was some happy story time on the sofa, Caleb got to open another birthday present, and then there was some coloring time.   A nice way to spend our afternoon!

Big news

I was not allowed to take a picture of this to post on the blog, but two nights ago, Caleb did both a pee AND a poop on the big potty.  Very cool.  Ready to be done with diapers!!

Caleb eating cake

Caleb loved his cake.  He actually ended up blowing the candles out by himself.  That was impressive!!  I got my picture taken with the birthday boy and then I got a shot of him with his fork in mid air.  He is such a true Clark!!  

More presents

Caleb had more packages to open on his birthday night.  

He works on some foamy animal shapes.  I think the older kids like these better than he does.

Caleb opens his Imaginarium marble building set.  He *loves* this as do the other kids.  They have spent hours with this toy.  Yay for me!!

Wendy bought Caleb a wagon with building blocks that stack on it.  Also, another big hit!!

He loves to take it around the house.  He loves it better when Molly pulls him while he sits inside it.  I need to get a shot of that!!  Soon!!!

The cake

Definitely not my best cake effort.  The cake and frosting are all ok, but all of the tubes of colored frosting I had for writing were too hard, even after lots and lots of kneading, that I had to resort to sprinkles.  It was very hard to aim them.  Oh well, it'll still taste the same and luckily, kids aren't as discriminating as us adults!!

Caleb's birthday lunch - complete with crown

The crown came from preschool yesterday, where he refused to wear it.  Today, though, he is getting a real kick out of it, especially here at lunch.  

Caleb is trying to eat his strawberries without laughing at me and blowing them out his nose.

Sissy makes Caleb giggle.

Adjusting his royal crown.

Studying the truck stickers on the crown.  

He then discovered there are many ways to wear a crown!!

Open gym day for Molly

Molly loves her gymnastics class and about every month to six weeks, parents are allowed in the gym to see what they are working on.

Molly does her X and I (jumping jacks) and perfects her form.  (Molly is in the long sleeved black leotard)

After doing her straight jumps, Molly does an excellent 'frog it'.  It is sort of how you learn to stick a landing.
Running across the gym at full speed, up the ramp, and doing jumps into the foam pit.  
This was another dive in the foam pit, horrible lighting in the gym makes some pictures awful.
With help from the instructor, Molly does a forward flip over a huge foam octagon on the obstacle course.  

Birthday - early morning installment

This morning started off early, with Caleb opening a couple of presents with the other kids before Potter headed out to school.  He got a few new shirts for fall and winter, and then he opened a new Bob the Builder workbench that his siblings gave to him.  They had a great time playing, despite the fact that the drill doesn't work.  We'll head to Target later to get a new one, but they had such a good time wearing the goggles, using the flashlight, and pretending they were carpenters.